 |
| In a remote and little frequented part of Cumbria, on the eastern edge of the Lake District, you can cross this bridge over the river Lowther . . . |
 |
| . . . and follow a mossed drystone wall to Shap Abbey. |
 |
| The west tower is fifteenth century, though the rest of the abbey dates from 1199 . . . |
 |
| . . . not that much remains of the earlier bits. |
 |
| An order of monks lived here called the Premonstratensians or White Canons. Think of them as a halfway house between the austere and rigidly disciplined, stay-at-home Cistercians, and the more laissez-faire, sociable, itinerant Augustinians. |
 |
| The site is cared for by English Heritage, and I'm glad to see they've left nature to take its course and not made the mistake of tidying things up too much. |
 |
| Dazzling displays of biting stonecrop adorned some of the ruined walls . . . |
 |
| . . . and on the way back we passed these magnificent sycamores bunched shoulder to shoulder over the river Lowther. |
(Click here for the daily Turnstone quote.)
